A 21-year-old Austin woman is facing a felony charge after police say pills she sold led to the fatal overdose of an 18-year-old in July. Duneska Marquez is charged with manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony, in connection with the death of Carson Jack Ingram.
Austin police began investigating after officers responded to an apartment at 11711 Domain Drive on July 9 and found Ingram unresponsive, according to KXAN. Austin firefighters and EMS personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but Ingram was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witness Describes $80 Pill Buy
A woman interviewed by investigators told police she purchased four pills she believed were oxycodone from a person she knew only as Duni on July 8, paying $80 for them, per the arrest affidavit obtained by the station. She said she watched Ingram take two of the pills while she took half of one herself.
Text messages reviewed by investigators reportedly showed discussions about obtaining the pills, including assurances from the seller that they were not “laced.” The station's report also describes surveillance video that allegedly captured a meeting between Marquez and the woman at a gas station on the night of the transaction.
Cellphone Records Led to an Identification
Investigators identified “Duni” as Duneska Marquez through phone records, law enforcement data and witness identification, the outlet reported. During the execution of a search warrant on July 16, detectives seized Marquez's cellphone and found cocaine, baggies and a digital scale in her vehicle, per the same account.
The Travis County Medical Examiner determined that Ingram died from the toxic effects of N-propionitrile chlorphine, also known as cychlorphine, and diphenhydramine. Investigators concluded that the pills Marquez delivered caused the fatal overdose, and Austin police obtained an arrest warrant for her on October 27, based on witness statements, cellphone evidence, surveillance video and autopsy findings.
A County With a Troubling Overdose Toll
The case lands against a backdrop of rising overdose deaths in the Austin area. Travis County recorded 440 accidental drug-related deaths in 2023, a rate of 33 per 100,000 residents, according to the Texas Tribune. That figure topped the rates reported in Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar and Harris counties the same year.
The Tribune also reported that in 2022, 417 Travis County residents died from drug-related overdoses — the first time overdoses topped the county's list of accidental deaths since 2011. Statewide, fentanyl was involved in 45% of an estimated 5,566 drug-related deaths in Texas between August 2022 and August 2023, per the same report.
How Other States Are Prosecuting Similar Cases
Texas is not alone in pursuing delivery-resulting-in-death charges against people who supply pills that turn out to be fatal. In Pennsylvania, more than 680 cases involving that type of charge were filed between 2021 and 2025, according to PennLive. Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld convictions in two such cases, ruling that the state's delivery law does not distinguish between drug dealers and co-users.
Federal prosecutors have also pursued severe penalties in cases involving minors. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced that a Lake Worth man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl and oxycodone to a minor, resulting in the minor's fatal overdose, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
